One reason for not dwelling on the water damage issue is that without sprinklers, fire and manual fire fighting will result in far greater damage than an accidental discharge.
If there were records of every incident it would most likely become very obvious that is would be more beneficial to install sprinklers (with the understanding that there is an extremely remote possibility of an "accidental" discharge) than it would be to not install them and suffer the tremendous loss of a fire. There are many reasons for a head accidentally discharging Multiple extreme temperature exposures to near the release temp. of the sprinkler. Rough handling of the sprinkler during installation. Sprinkler was a factory defect. Impact to sprinkler causing damage making it vulnerable to higher than normal pressures (if on gridded systems with no relief). Sprinkler with too low of a temperature rating installed based on space conditions or with regard to proximity of heat producing appliances. Sprinkler was subject to a freezing condition. Sprinkler corrosion. Vandalism. Keep in mind that not every accidental discharge of a sprinkler is reported to the authorities or to an insurance agency. If the water damage is minimal it is usually handled by the owner as reporting it to the insurance agency could cause an in increase in their premiums. Handling and paying for any damage out of pocket, one time, would be cheaper for an owner than paying for an increased premium for an undetermined amount of time. But also consider that the odds of an accidental discharge as reported by Factory Mutual is about 1 in 16 million. What are the odds of experiencing a destructive fire? NFPA reported that in 2007 there were 1.6 million reported fires in the US. About half a million were structure fires. The NFIRS (National Fire Incident Reporting System) reported that for the year 2003 there were 44,000 reported non-fire sprinkler activations, this did include about 5,000 residential incidents as well. This number is further reduced since it takes into account system activations like dry valves being opened, pressure switches activating, etc. and other system activations. Sprinklers, where there was an actual discharge, accounted for only half of the total 44,000 system activations. Let's compare 1.6 million fires to 22,000 accidental discharges. So you're 72 times more likely to experience a fire than to experience an accidental sprinkler discharge. Even the smallest fire can quickly grow beyond the control of a single fire extinguisher. By that time, a call is made to the fire department and time is now the greatest enemy. Hope for any recovery of the property and lives is for the most part not a possibility. Also consider that in a facility without sprinklers, in the event of a fire, the method of extinguishment will be by fire hose. If in an Ordinary Hazard environment you would have let's say 20gpm discharging from a single sprinkler (industry reports indicate that 90% of fires are controlled or contained by one sprinkler) or the fire department with one or more hoses discharging 250 or more gpm into the affected area. Which scenario gives more hope for a quick recovery of the business or re-establishment of occupancy? Obviously the sprinkler. Potential water damage from leaking plumbing water piping systems, waste drains, roof drainage, and other utilities is a far greater possibility and results in more damage than accidental sprinkler discharge. But you don't hear of anyone not going to install toilets or sinks or roof drains because of the possibility of leakage do you? On another forum, one of the members has something like this attached to his signature, "At some point everything dries out but nothing unburns". Of course there are alternatives such as Pre-action sprinkler systems or other suppression means that may be more suitable to sensitive areas. It would be an extreme challenge to be able to argue that the potential damage from an accidental sprinkler discharge would make not installing sprinklers a better choice. Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Specialist Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [email protected] http://www.ch2m.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aydin ÖZKAYA Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 2:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Cause Analysis of Accidental Discharge of Fire Sprinklers Calling the manufacturer (in our case, in Turkey is the local representative) is definitely one of the items. However mfr is just one part of the issue. There might be several other factors. We are in an independent (consultant) position, to be equal to all the parties. In fact, that was the reason I asked for a generally applicable flow diagram-check list-etc. Meantime, I am surprised that industry has not developped a common database for acc. spr discharge, since water damage is the counter argument for an investor, not to install spr's, unless the codes urge for sprinklers. Rgds. Aydin -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George Church Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 2:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Cause Analysis of Accidental Discharge of Fire Sprinklers Mfr support isn't quite as smooth for Aydin as for us, Jay- he's in Turkey, with local support being a bit spotty. But Jay is right, the mfr should want to know why it let loose, and I'd be surprised if the Owner's insurance carrier (or the installing contractor's carrier) isn't looking to subrogate some water damage claim. I'd imagine that sort of "trickle-down economics' is universal; ACE, AON, AXA, etc.- all the acronyms want someone else to pay for it no matter where you are. Probably swarf- that's as universal as Murphy, I suppose. glc -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jay Stough Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 6:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Cause Analysis of Accidental Discharge of Fire Sprinklers We had one go off about a couple of years ago. I think it was the Grinnell version of Central's K25. I don't remember much about it, only that after we called the manufacturer, they had a site visit the next day and within a couple of days they were out there and replaced all the sprinklers. Call the manufacturer, they will definitely help find the cause. I have found that they want to find the cause as much if not more than us contractors, and for the most part will fix their mistakes quickly. Jay Stough ________________________________ From: Aydın ÖZKAYA <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 12:19:38 AM Subject: Cause Analysis of Accidental Discharge of Fire Sprinklers We are reported an accidental discharge of ESFR in a roll paper warehouse. I have two questions: Q1 : Apart from the technical papers, does any one has a, - flow chart - check list for a systematic and analytical analysis of (root) cause(s)? Q2 : Is there a database where I can both report to and check whether there is a similar previous record or not? I'll appreciate any such experience... Rgds. Aydin OZKAYA _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
